OKLAHOMA CITY — The Amateur
Softball Association (ASA) of America and USA Softball announced today that
Florida State pitcher Lacey Waldrop (Chester, Va.) was selected as the 2014 USA
Softball National Collegiate Player of the Year. The award, which is
considered the most prestigious honor in Division I women’s softball, is
designed to recognize outstanding athletic achievement by female collegiate
softball players across the country. This season, Waldrop helped lead the
Florida State Seminoles to their eighth NCAA Women’s College World Series
(WCWS) appearance, their first since 2004. Florida State becomes the first team
to have two different players select as USA Softball National Collegiate Player
of the Year with Jessica Van der Linden taking the honor in 2004.

The 2014 Atlantic Coast
Conference (ACC) Conference Pitcher of the Year, Waldrop paces the country with
38 wins to just five losses and ranks third with a 1.01 Earned Run Average
(ERA). In 257 innings in the circle this season, the Florida State junior has
given up just five home runs and has held opposing batters to a .184 batting
average. Waldrop, a two-time All-ACC selection, led her Seminoles to both
regular season and conference tournament titles in 2014.

In just three seasons, Waldrop
has compiled an 81-20 record with 680 strikeouts ranking her ninth all-time in
Florida State history. Behind their pitching ace, the Seminoles climbed from a
preseason No. 12 ranking to the No. 3 overall spot in the final regular season
ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 poll.

The
other two finalists for the 2014 award were Michigan’s Big 10 Player of the
Year Sierra Romero (Murrieta, Calif.), who ranks second in the nation with a
.491 batting average, and Pac-12 Player of the Year Ally Carda (Elk Grove,
Calif.) of UCLA who finished the season with a 1.90 ERA and .394 batting
average.

The USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year
award is voted on by coaching representatives from 11 Division I Conferences in
the 15 ASA Regions as well as members of the media who consistently cover
Division I Softball across the country, and previous Player of the Year recipients.
Other past winners of this award include UCLA’s Stacey Nuveman, three-time
winner from Texas Cat Osterman, Tennessee’s Monica Abbott, Virginia Tech’s
Angela Tincher, two-time winner Washington’s Danielle Lawrie, 2011 winner
Ashley Hansen from Stanford and 2012 and 2013 back-to-back winner Keilani
Ricketts of Oklahoma.